


The Rock That Changed Their Fates

by Anonymous



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-16
Updated: 2015-06-16
Packaged: 2018-04-04 18:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4147725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/





	The Rock That Changed Their Fates

“Jemma?” Fitz called her name as he came back in a few minutes after hurrying off to plan dinner.  He had gotten as far as the phone before it occurred to him that he probably should check and make sure she was actually in the mood for dressing up before he made any reservations.  “Jemma, do you want to….  Jemma?“  The room was empty.  Why was the room empty?  He had only been gone a minute.  Even if Jemma had finished what she was doing and left, he would have seen her in the hall.  “Jemma?“  He called again, pulling the security footage up as he scanned the room.  Where could she have gone?  
  
And there it was, Jemma being sucked into the rock.  Fitz let out a scream and raced out of the room shouting for help.  He ran down the hallway, calling for someone, anyone, not even noticing as things suddenly shimmered around him.  
  
“Fitz?“  Trip called as he poked his head out of a room, with Skye behind him.  "What’s wrong?”  
  
“Yeah, Turbo, what’s going on?"  Mac called as he came to join the group around the engineer.  
  
"The rock!  It ATE Jemma!"  Fitz shouted.  
  
"What?"  Trip said.  
  
"Wait.  Rock, do you mean that rock that Director Fury ordered destroyed? That Coulson’s still yelling at Gonzalez for not destroying?  That rock?"  Skye said.  
  
"The rock that I locked up?"  Mac added.  "And how does a rock eat someone?”  
  
“I don’t know.  We were going out to dinner, and I didn’t think to ask her where she wanted to go, so I came back and she wasn’t there, and when I looked on the footage….  It ATE her!"  As he was talking, he was motioning frantically for the others to foliow him down to the room containing the apparently carnivorous rock.  
  
"You asked Jemma to go out?  Good for you, Turbo."  Mack said as Skye pulled up the footage.  It was about time that those two did something.  Privately he was thinking that a date would end with them either heading for Vegas, or with so many spills and disasters that the two decided they were better as best friends with a hilarious story to tell their kids one day, but either way, they needed to do something to clear things up.  
  
"But apparently Jemma did get eaten by a rock.  I hope you didn’t pay for any reservations yet, Fitz."  Skye said as she looked up from the footage.  
  
"What is that stuff?"  Trip said as Skye backed up the footage and played it again.  "It looks like something from a bad episode of Star Trek.”  
  
“I’m getting Coulson."  Skye turned and headed towards the door.  "He needs to know that the rock he’s yelling at Gonzalez about just ATE someone!”  
  
“How do we get her out?"  Fitz asked as he slowly approached the rock.  The rock looked solid, but….  No, he wouldn’t let himself believe there wasn’t some way to retrieve Jemma from inside.  
  
"I’m not sure, Turbo."  Mack said with a frown.  Could Jemma be alive in there?  Better not to mention the possibility that she wasn’t.  
  
"What if….  Could it be like that dark force stuff?"  Trip asked.  "Or what was that stuff with Thor and Doctor Foster?  What if it teleported her somewhere?”  
  
“Teleported.  Teleported might work.  There would be an energy signature.  We could try to trace her that way."  Fitz agreed.  
  
But before any of them could do anything, the rock shifted to liquid once more and a second later, Jemma came flying out, landing on the ground in front of them.  
  
"Jemma?"  Fitz dropped to the ground next to her and reached out for her, half afraid she might fade away in front of him.  
  
"Fitz?"  Jemma gasped and her eyes flew open.  The Playground.  She was in the Playground on the floor.  Had she fallen and hit her head?  Had what she had thought she had seen been a dream?  Being on the street, seeing Ward in front of her, and the panic she had felt as she shoved him, desperate to stop him before he could hurt someone else.  "Fitz?”  
  
“Here, we need to get her to medical."  Trip said as he knelt down.  "C'mon, girl.  Afraid your date’s going to have to be postponed.”  
  
C'mon….  Jemma blinked hard, her eyes going wide as she saw Trip.  “Trip?"  She whispered, her entire body shaking with disbelief at what she was seeing.  "You’re dead.”  
  
“Dead?"  Trip, Fitz and Mack shared a look.  What had that rock done to Jemma?  
  
"She definitely needs to go to medical and I need to get a better lock for that thing.  Or better yet, we need to do what Fury wanted and get rid of it."  Mack said.  Right about now he was wishing that he had done that to start with.  
  
"Definitely Medical.  You’re going to be fine, Jemma.  It’s all going to be fine, I promise."  Fitz tried to reassure her as Trip picked her up.  
  
Solid.  He was solid.  Trip was solid.  "Did you get powers too?"  Jemma asked Trip as he carried her out of the room with the others following on either side.  Powers.  That made a lot of sense.  Trip must have gotten powers the same way that Skye did and he just now gained control of them.  She settled back with a slight sigh of relief.  
  
"Powers?"  That rock had done a number on Jemma, that was for sure.  But before Trip could ask her what she meant by powers, they heard voices hurrying down the hall.  
  
"Robert your rock just ATE someone!"  Coulson said with a glare over his shoulder.  "Did it ever occur to you that this sort of thing is why Fury wanted it destroyed?”  
  
“It slurped her right up."  Skye added.  And then she sighed as she caught sight of Jemma in Trip’s arms, not looking partially digested.  "But apparently it spit her out again, which is really good but I still say that the carnivorous rock has got to go.  Jemma, are you okay?”  
  
“Skye?"  Jemma said, and then blinked hard, shaking once more as she saw the two men.  Coulson, who clearly had two arms, and Robert Gonzalez.  "You’re dead!”  
  
“Don’t take it personally.  She said the same thing about me."  Trip said.  "That thing must have really did a number on her.”  
  
“Get her to medical.  It’s going to be alright, Jemma, I promise."  Coulson came over and gently patted her shoulder as he spoke.  Why had he ever let Robert bring that thing into the Playground, no matter how eager everyone was to study it?  Fury had wanted it gone for a reason.  
  
"Coulson, what happened to your scientist?"  Victoria called as she headed down the hallway to join what looked a scene that was fast growing into a mob, Isabelle right behind her with Idaho, Hunter and Bobbi trailing behind.  And she could see the Koenigs, Eric, Billy and Sam coming from the other direction.  They would be lucky to be able to move in a few minutes.  
  
"An accident with that rock that should have been destroyed a year ago now."  Coulson said.  "If we could clear a path to get her to medical?”  
  
“Agent Hand?"  Jemma whispered.  "Dead.  You’re dead!  Ward killed you and…."  And was that Isabelle Hartley and….  Koenigs, there were three Koenigs, but there should only be two and…..  "And you’re dead!"  She pointed to Isabelle.  "And you!” She pointed to the Koenigs, although she wasn’t sure who was supposed to be the dead brother.  Dead, was everyone dead?  Had the rock sent her to some nightmare world filled with ghosts?  
  
“Jemma, hey, calm down, okay?"  Skye said as she hurried over.  "Everything’s fine.  No one’s dead.  You had a close encounter with a carnivorous rock that better be gone by bedtime or I’m never sleeping again, but no one’s dead, I promise.”  
  
“But…."  Jemma shook her head.  "Ward killed her!"  She cried as she pointed at Agent Hand, "And then he strangled Eric Koenig and…."  Jemma started to cry as she remembered that and examining someone who had became a friend in such a short time.  
  
"I’m fine.  I appreciate it if you were concerned, though.  Sir, does medical need to set up some sort of quarantine?"  Eric asked.  
  
"She was eaten by a rock.  Quarantine’s definitely in order.  Trip, get her to medical."  Coulson said.  
  
"I’ll go tell them to get a room ready.  They might need to move Agent 33."  Bobbi called.  
  
"You shouldn’t be here."  Jemma whispered.  "Ward tortured you.  You were shot.  You shouldn’t be here.”  
  
“Ward?  Who’s Ward?"  Skye asked.  
  
"Ward?  Grant Ward?"  Jemma said, and then when Skye shot her a confused look she added, "The Hydra traitor on our team who threatened to take what he wanted from you, Skye?"  She couldn’t blame Skye for trying to block him out.  Goodness knows she wished she could, but still….  
  
"Hydra on our team?"  Skye looked at Jemma with a frown as they came into medical, the crowd following along behind.  "Jemma, I was your first case, right?  You said I was your first case.  And when I came on the BUS there was you and Fitz, Coulson, May who picked the absolute worst or best time to go on vacation depending on how you look at it, and Trip.  No one named Ward.  And no Hydra traitor named Ward.”  
  
“What?"  Jemma murmured.  "No, that isn't….."  She frowned as she caught sight of one of the people in medical who was being moved far away from the quarantine lab.  Agent 33?  But wasn’t she dead?  Why were so many people who were supposed to be dead here?  "She’s dead too!  Ward shot her, and she said he was her boyfriend and….”  
  
“Boyfriend?"  Kara called.  "I have a girlfriend.  Her name’s Ellery."  Then she frowned herself.  "That is right, isn’t it?"  She remembered things, but they seemed to be in the wrong order half the time.  
  
"Jemma had a close encounter with a carnivorous rock.  She’s a little mixed up right now.  Or a lot mixed up."  Skye told her.  "Girlfriend’s right for you.  Go back to bed.”  
  
“Grant Ward."  Victoria said the name.  "There was a Grant Ward maybe ten years ago.  Garrett brought him in."  But before Jemma could feel any relief that Ward’s existence had been confirmed, she added.  "He was killed in a traffic accident his first week at the academy.  He fell off the sidewalk and was hit by a car.”  
  
“Fell…."  Jemma whispered the word as Trip settled her onto the bed.  Sidewalk.  Ward had….  Sidewalk.  The rock had grabbed her, and she had been on a sidewalk, and Ward was there and she didn’t even think, she had just pushed him, had known if she didn’t push him that someone else would be hurt and…..  But Agent Hand was here, Agent Hand who had been dead for over a year, and she was saying that Ward was dead that he had failed off of a sidewalk and….  What had the rock done?  Had she somehow changed the past? 


End file.
